CV

Curriculum Vitae (PDF, in NIH Biosketch Format)

 

I am a PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon, as well as a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh through the Pitt/CMU Medical Scientist Training Program. My academic areas of interest include:

  • Minimally invasive surgical and medical devices
  • Flexible robotics for medical intervention
  • Image-guided control, estimation and path-planning
  • Continuum tissue mechanics and fracture mechanics
  • Tissue-device interface simulation and modeling
  • I am currently a graduate student working in the Robotics Institute at CMU in the Surgical Mechatronics Laboratory. Here, I am developing a robotically controlled, flexible needle that follows nonlinear paths in soft tissue under image guidance. This technology has general applications for steering flexible needles, probes, catheters and cannulae to targets deep within the body while avoiding critical anatomic structures and vasculature. Additionally, it can be used to steer a probe to multiple locations within a treatment volume, such as to directly deliver chemotherapeutics to cover an entire tumor margin, or to deliver multiple radioactive seeds during brachytherapy without the need for multiple insertions. In addition to my thesis work, I am also involved in clinical projects in the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. My clinical research interests include 3D image-guided targeting and planning for radiation treatments, tumor coverage assessment, outcomes for different treatment modalities (including stereotactic radiosurgery), and deformable image registration. Other random interests/hobbies/distractions of mine include: education and outreach in both medicine and engineering, scientific communication and writing, hobby electronics, music (mostly consumption, but minimal production), classic car restoration, and the past/present/future of Pittsburgh.